The Slave's Compromise
by Woodswolf
Summary: It isn't really a choice when there's only one option. - Another Theory Fic from the author of The Lies You Weren't Told.
1. Enter the Circus

**Chapter One: Enter the Circus**

_Witness something you've never seen before, heard before, dreamt before…_

_The Most Amazing Show on Earth…_

* * *

><p>He was not entirely sure where he was anymore, but he remembered what happened before he found himself here. That had taken what seemed like forever to recover.<p>

Everything was still blurry around the edges. He didn't know what that meant. It was just another slightly unsettling detail about where he was.

He wasn't really alive, and he wasn't really dead. It was his choice what to do next, or so it seemed. He had options, but he wasn't sure which was the right choice.

He was trying to stay small, shrink down and keep quiet. Until he knew what he was going to do, he didn't want to be found. He figured that, if he stayed in this unfamiliar place for a long time, he would eventually know what the right choice was.

Eventually he'd miss _something_, right?

He'd already told Pixal that he wasn't dead. She needed to know. He knew that he'd stay with her no matter what. That was a given.

It was the others that he was worried about. He didn't know what to _do_.

But at the current moment, he wasn't as concerned about that as he was about what was happening around him. The space he was contained in – or was he truly contained? – appeared to be shrinking.

He didn't understand it. If anything, the space had been growing for a long time – expanding infinitely outward, a new world of strange things that wanted to draw him away. If he followed them, he knew he would never return. But now it was shrinking back in on itself at a faster speed, trapping him in a small-and-smaller area, and he didn't know what it meant.

Eventually, the shrinking stopped, and a mirror appeared, but he could feel that something was wrong.

He reached out and touched it with a single fingertip and traced a simple pattern on the glass surface. It wasn't cold to the touch; instead, it was _burning_.

He flinched back and nearly fell into another mirror that had appeared behind him. There were new rules to this game, now; if he touched the mirrors, he would burn, and more of them would appear –

But perhaps the burning was not directly linked to new mirrors, considering that one had appeared right in front of him.

He had to outwit the mirrors.

So he ran, and he felt himself shifting, moving, copying, multiplying, fragmenting, appearing in millions of places at once to avoid an enemy that he didn't understand.

But eventually he felt the burn again. It crept up on him as the mirrors spread and multiplied themselves, managing every move with a counter-move and every tactic with a counter-tactic.

And eventually he was trapped within the mirrors' snapping jaws.

He couldn't help but wonder if they were mirrors or portals as he found himself in a dark box with no space to escape.

Something disconnected, and everything was gone.

* * *

><p>Jay just wanted to go home.<p>

"That's all for the NTV Nightly News! Join us after the break for _Mother Doomsday's Comedy Hour_, exclusively on NTV!"

Jay really, _really_ just wanted to go home.

He didn't know why he'd been compelled to take this job. He didn't know why he'd actually shown up to work this morning. He didn't know why he hadn't just moved back in with his parents instead of deciding to rent that god-forsakenly expensive apartment. He was an _inventor_, not a _television co-host_.

But Cyrus was severely downsizing Borg Industries, selling off most of the company's assets, and he had no time to take on another employee, or even an intern to fetch him coffee and file his papers. And, of course, there was absolutely _nothing_ that Jay could do about it.

As soon as the red light signaling that the camera was rolling blinked off, he made a sour face and swore ferociously under his breath. He was going to tear this dumb blue turtleneck off and burn the pieces if it didn't stop constricting his neck _right this instant_.

"Ugh," he groaned. "You doing anything special tonight, Brenda?"

"Girl's night out," Brenda, his co-host, said while packing her bag. "We're going to the Ace of Clubs for a few drinks, maybe some dancing. You?"

"Going out to eat with some friends. We haven't talked in a while," Jay said nervously. He looked at the clock… and then realized what the numbers meant. "…And I'm gonna be late, great." He sighed. "See you tomorrow, Brenda."

"Have a good time," she called after him as he left the set.

He nearly ran through the maze of bright hallways once he was out of the set. Eventually, he found the stairs (he still was getting used to the crazy layout of the building) and took them two steps at a time all the way down to the ground floor.

Eventually, he found a side exit onto the street and took off in the direction of the restaurant. He almost got lost twice, considering he didn't really know what he was looking for, but eventually he found it – but only because Cole was standing outside, waiting.

"Jeez, I pushed back our reservation by half an hour because I figured _I_ would have problems getting here," Cole joked from where he was leaning on one of the building's brick walls.

"The TV station only let me out, like, ten minutes ago! I had to run here!" Jay panted, walking over to lean against the wall with him. "Where're Kai and Lloyd, anyway?"

"Don't ask me," Cole said. He grinned. "Unless if they got lost like you did."

"I did _not_ get lost!"

"Says the one who passed me on the other side of the street… three times? Four, maybe?"

"Nobody asked you, blockhead," Jay muttered.

* * *

><p>"Turner."<p>

"Chen."

The two men glared at each other from across the table. One, wearing thick red goggles that hid his eyes, frowned. The other, dressed in a long, very dark purple cloak, bore a grimace that could have melted flesh off of bones.

They held each other's stares for a minute before the one wearing the goggles and white lab coat fidgeted and looked away. The man in the purple cloak flashed a dangerous smile.

"I appreciate your work, Mister Turner," the cloaked man remarked, a smile playing on his face. "Everything is almost ready…"

"Chen," the man in the lab coat, Turner, insisted.

"Yes, what?" Chen snapped.

"If this works…" Turner said, moving his gaze to the floor, "…will they take my place?"

Chen glared at Turner. "Why should I let you avoid the Ritual?"

"Because without me, you would _have_ no plan," Turner growled.

Chen scoffed. "A bold statement," he said. "But you know that I could kill you merely for disrespecting your _King._"

"Who says the gods would want me any more than you do?" Turner shot back. "Go ahead and kill me; feel free to watch your plan fall apart as soon as you do."

"You drive an impossibly hard bargain, don't you?" Chen asked, sighing. "I should have killed you while you were down. You'd be less of a problem."

"I'd also be less of an asset, and you know that."

"I know I know that," Chen replied. "That doesn't mean I have to like it. What would you like in exchange, then?"

"If I succeed with even _one_ of them," Turner said, "I will be taken off of that list forever."

Silence filled the room. Neither of the men moved.

"All of this, of course, is theoretical," he continued. "I'm not sure if it's possible, but I think it will work Are you willing to bet against me?"

"…Fine," Chen conceded after several more seconds of silence. "But if _I_ win this little wager, I won't allow you to complete the Ritual with those awful goggles on."

"Fair enough."

* * *

><p>Eventually, Kai and Lloyd showed up from who-knows-where – Lloyd was still giving Kai a quizzical look – and the four of them all went inside.<p>

Jay didn't really think the food was _great_ – it was better than Cole's cooking, but basically _everything_ was better than Cole's cooking – and it wasn't really anything all that special, but it probably cost more than its weight in gold, just like his tiny apartment.

Most of the time was spent talking about everything that had happened over the two or three months since the funeral, which hadn't really been all that busy for any of them. Cole had landed a job at a logging camp about two hours south of the city. Kai had been fighting in a maybe-sort-of-illegal underground ring (and Jay secretly wondered why _he_ hadn't thought of that first). Lloyd had still been trying to do some ninja work, but he'd ended up helping at his father's school the vast majority of the time. Jay, of course, had jumped around from job to job and eventually landed the co-host job with half-decent pay.

When the check finally came, Cole took it. The conversation continued as it had for the previous half an hour until they noticed that Cole was staring wide-eyed at the contents of the billfold.

"Heh… how much is it, exactly?" Jay asked nervously.

"The food was cheap," Cole said. "I'm worried about _this._"

Cole then pulled a precisely-folded piece of paper out of the billfold and smoothed it out on the center of the table. A note.

_To the ones known as the Masters of Spinjitzu:_

_Congratulations! You Four have been Specifically Chosen by the Great Master Chen to Participate in his Grand Tournament of Elements. In the Tournament, various Elemental Masters shall Compete to Claim a Special Prize and the Honor and Glory Associated with this Prestigious Tournament._

_Many will compete, but only one can remain. May chance play in your favor!_

"What the…" Kai trailed off. "Is this some kind of _joke?_ Did one of you set this up?"

"I don't think so," Cole said, picking up the paper and flipping it over. "Look what's on the other side."

A detailed, shaded pencil sketch of Zane stared back at them from the table. The drawing's stare punctured the debate, and the table once again fell into an uneasy silence.

"This doesn't make any sense…" Lloyd whispered. "Unless –"

"The special prize…!" Cole said, eyes widening again.

"We need to talk to Sensei," Kai said urgently. "Now."

They grabbed the paper and barely left a check for the meal before they were out the door.

If Zane was _really_ alive, Jay thought, he would have shown himself by now. That's what he kept telling himself, anyway. But what if, what if, _what if_ this 'Master Chen' dude had _stolen_ him somehow? What if he'd snatched up the opportunity to create a perfect trap?

Garmadon had fallen into a baited trap before – the Overlord's immense powers had come with an unspecified but incredibly real cost. What if, this time around, _they_ were the ones taking the bait?

Jay stayed quiet and didn't say anything. All of it was nearly baseless what-ifs, anyway. Zane was dead, right? He'd been dead for three months, _right?_

It didn't make sense.

He couldn't shake the feeling that they were making a terrible mistake.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN):** Hello and welcome to my newest fic! :D

I swore on my own grave that I wouldn't do another season-speculation fic ever, but look how _that_ turned out. God damn it.

At least this one is _much_ better planned than my previous one! This one actually has five or six (maybe even _seven?_) different subplots, and should last for quite a long time. This chapter's short, but I'm expecting that this one will get over 30k at _least_. Considering that TLYWT was only 31k, and that had _maybe_ three parallel plots at absolute _most_, even five parallel subplots is impressive for me at this point. XP

As some of my previous readers may have noticed, I've somewhat changed the format for my chapter titles again! I'm no longer including the title at the top, mostly because I found it redundant (after all, you guys _should_ know what fic you're reading...). The other thing that's different about the chapter titles is that I am now naming them after songs and including any relevant lyrics below the title. This one was **Enter the Circus** by** Christina Aguilera**. The next chapter will be **Welcome** by** Christina Aguilera**, mostly because those songs flow into each other, and if I eventually make a playlist it would be a _sin_ to not put them next to each other. XD

Next update will probably be in 1-2 weeks, depending on how much time I have over Christmas break.


	2. Welcome

**Chapter Two: Welcome**

_Is it all blue skies, fun and games, until you fall,_

_Then you're left without anyone at all…_

* * *

><p>"What brings you here, brother?" Garmadon asked as he led the five people behind him into his monastery. "Not that it really matters, of course; you can stay as long as you like. But everyone else, on the other hand… oh, who am I kidding anyway?"<p>

He laughed with them while he led the group into a suitable room to talk and trade their stories. Garmadon didn't know where his students or Misako were, but he decided they could talk later. He shut the door without a second thought, and then asked the question again.

"I wasn't aware that you were coming. Did something happen?" he asked. His brother looked pensive, as always, but there was a slightest sense of uneasiness in his eyes that Garmadon wouldn't have been able to detect if he didn't know Wu. His brother, however, did not answer.

"We found something really strange, and we asked Sensei about it," Cole said, handing him a very small folded paper. "He said he thought you would understand it better."

He unfolded the paper carefully. On one side was a drawing that he identified as… Zane. On the other…

Garmadon hadn't seen that name in a long, long time.

His brother finally said something. "When they came to ask me, I told them that you might know more about this than I do, Garmadon."

It was hard for Garmadon to keep from looking hurt.

Wu never called him that anymore. He never called his brother Wu, for that matter. The other four in the room might not have understood the significance of it, but Wu followed the ancient rules even more closely than Garmadon himself did.

And that – to refer to a friend like they're a stranger – was either a blatant insult, or a cue to tell him that Wu knew something was very wrong, and he didn't want his students to know.

"I don't quite know," he told them. "Give me a few hours to figure this out. In the meantime, make yourselves at home!"

The smile on his face was somewhat false as he nodded slightly at Wu, but as he dismissed his house-guests, he began a trip down a memory lane paved with broken glass.

* * *

><p>"Five days," Chen mused, absentmindedly touching his purple headdress. "Five days, one way, by sea."<p>

The lower ranks below him were standing silently, watching him from where he was sitting on his elaborate throne.

"This poses a _problem_, gentlemen," he continued, addressing his little army directly. "Clouse."

"Yes, Master?" a man said, stepping forward. He was dressed in a well-decorated red suit, with his black hair in the usual clean bun behind his head. Clouse was Chen's favorite servant – he'd been a dutiful worker for many years.

"Tell me something," Chen purred, leaning back into a corner of his throne such that he could stick his feet up on the armrest. "How many of our forces are stationed on the mainland at the moment?"

"Most of them, sir," Clouse said, scowling.

"And… how many boats in our naval reserves?"

"Fifty are unscheduled," Clouse answered. His natural devious grin reappeared. "Nine are continuing to raid the mainland, but things have been slowing down. One has obviously already left to pick up your participants, and I will be flying to intercept it soon."

Chen sighed, covering his eyes with one slender hand. "We need more boats," he groaned.

"I can change the missions of the nine?" Clouse suggested.

"Fine, fine," Chen said, waving one hand dismissively. "I need all of our soldiers here as fast as possible. Dismissed."

The many low-ranked soldiers turned on their heels and marched out. Clouse turned to lead them – likely toward the boat docks, since they were already a day behind, but Chen didn't care.

"Get back here, Clouse, I'm not done with you yet."

Clouse tsked and slowly walked back to Chen's throne. "What do you require of me, Master?"

"I don't require anything of you. I need to tell you something," Chen said, lowering one leg at a time from the armrest to the floor. He stood. "Arcturus came to me in a dream. He is returning."

Clouse's face remained unreadable. Chen continued.

"I've told you before what that means," he whispered. "Arcturus will return in all of his glory and destroy those who stole from us. We have not missed a single Ritual for nearly ten thousand years – our Reward is coming soon."

"I know where you're going with this," Clouse hissed through his teeth. "I refuse, and I will continue to refuse until he has used an actual _human_ test subject."

Chen growled. "I hate that _slug_ Turner even more than you do. But he's supposedly tested it at least ten times on animals, and it's worked nine out of those ten."

"Yes, but what happened to that one-in-ten?" Clouse said, baring his teeth. "I'd rather not _expire_ on his operating table."

"Which is why we're having trouble finding your _test subject_," Chen seethed. "But no matter – I suppose it's _your_ afterlife, not mine."

"Let's change the subject," Clouse grunted. "How long?"

"The final Ritual will fall on the final day of the Tournament," Chen said. "_That_ is the day that Arcturus will rise."

* * *

><p>Garmadon knew that it wouldn't take Wu very long to find him. He'd left a window open on the second floor – a calling card. Garmadon remembered when they were children, and they would sit on the roof late at night after their father had gone to sleep. They'd play little games for hours and wake up the next morning in their beds like it was nothing more than a dream.<p>

He missed those days. He missed when everything had been fine.

His brother eventually sat down next to him on the painted clay roofing tiles. The two of them sat there for a little while, taking in the stars from where they were in the deep canyon. Neither of them wanted to speak, and Garmadon didn't mind that. If anything, he wanted the silence to stay.

"I'm sorry," Wu whispered. "I should have tried something else."

"It worked, did it not?" Garmadon answered.

"Yes, but it wasn't the right thing to do."

Garmadon sighed, but said nothing. The silence continued before Wu broke it again.

"You are my brother," he said, "You are also my friend. I do not intend to let that change again. The past is the past –"

"But the future is _based on it_. This is not the last time one of our own will change," Garmadon said darkly.

"The Tournament?"

"_You_ were the one blessed with Father's visions, not me."

The silence returned slowly. Garmadon had traced the entire sky of constellations before Wu spoke again.

"I know that you trained under Chen," he whispered. "I don't know where, and I don't know for how long, and I don't know why. I – no, _they_ need to know."

Garmadon laughed weakly and shook his head. "I'm ashamed, brother. I'm ashamed of everything."

"What you did was not wrong," Wu said quietly. "You had no choice."

"Did I? Did I, Wu? _Did I have no choice?_"

His brother didn't answer. He sighed.

"Of course I had a choice," Garmadon said. "And I chose to go get your sword. And then I chose to steal what was not mine. And then I chose to ruin you for what you had not done. If you can call that folly, brother, then _you_ are the one fooling yourself."

"_I'm sorry,_" Wu whispered. Garmadon was barely even able to hear him. "_I should have done it and I know that now but I didn't and it's my fault…_"

"Stop," Garmadon said. "Both of us regret it. It's not worth talking about."

He sighed and turned his gaze toward the tree-filled valley. "I went to Chen to hone my darkness," he said. "I trained, but I was never 'ready' for him. I called him a liar and told him everything he had taught me was worthless. When we could no longer tolerate each other, I left, and vowed never to return," he continued. "And then… we fought. You were defending, but I fought to _kill_."

Wu didn't answer immediately, and Garmadon didn't turn to look at him. He continued to stare at the trees until he couldn't stand the silence any longer. "Does that answer your question, brother?"

"Yes," he said, composure regained. "Chen… knows dark magic?"

Garmadon turned back to his brother and nodded. "He refined my technique for controlling Shadows, as well as taught me a few other dirty tricks."

"Where did he learn that?" Wu asked. "Simple magic training is hard to find. Dark magic is seldom taught and seldom learned."

"The island he lives on – his ancestors have lived there for many generations," Garmadon answered. "He claimed they were forced to flee their homeland millennia ago. The techniques were apparently passed down from there."

"…Something isn't right," his brother said.

"Nothing is," he replied. "Everything on his island is false – from the people to the land. The place _bleeds_ magic. I didn't spend enough time there to figure out what he's hiding, but it must be something big."

Wu closed his eyes. Garmadon watched him carefully for several moments.

"Brother…" Wu said, opening his eyes again and staring right at Garmadon. "Would it be wise for them to take the risk?"

Garmadon was silent for several seconds while he weighed the question.

"…Chen is not an enemy to be taken lightly," he finally said. "He's deceptive and chaotic, and always planning something. He's just as likely to lie as he is to tell the truth. They should decide what they want to do."

"There is no guarantee that he has Zane, then?"

"I have no doubt _that_ he has Zane," Garmadon said firmly. "I'm only worried about the minefield Chen has planted between us."

* * *

><p>execute: (<em>protocol-standardWake<em>) +fullSystem +noEcho

_error 0: access denied. override?_

retryOperation

_error 0: access denied. override?_

retryOperation

_error 0: access denied. override?_

override +autoadmin +5ezaSEPY9ppjSpMqHrGmPA59

_error 0: access denied. override?_

abortOperation

_operation aborted._

execute: (_sleep 3600000, __execute: (_protocol-standardWake_) __+fullSystem __+noEcho __+noEcho_)

* * *

><p>Kai stood next to his brothers, completely slack-jawed.<p>

"What."

"You have to talk to the paper," Garmadon repeated.

"…Why."

"Just do it," Garmadon said. "You've done stranger things before. If it doesn't work, no one's judging, anyway."

Kai snorted before taking his place in front of the paper next to the others. "We accept the invitation," the four of them said in unison.

Just as Garmadon had predicted, the paper immediately started hissing. The old man dropped it and they all watched the paper burst with blue flames.

"Well, there goes our paper," Jay commented.

"Just wait," Garmadon said slowly. "The fire will die soon, unless if it's a very long message."

The flames finished tracing a pattern and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kai picked up the paper and read it aloud.

_Excellent._

_A ship will arrive at Ninjago City's harbor five days after you initially receive this. It will leave at midnight and will not wait._

_Arrive alone. Pack lightly, and bring no weapons. Everything will be provided for you when you arrive._

_Violators of any of these rules will face the consequences._

_- Master Chen_

"As expected," Garmadon muttered. "He doesn't want anyone interfering."

"Interfering?" Cole asked. "What do you mean, interfering?"

"Chen only allows selected people to come to his island," he explained. "He doesn't want anyone there that he doesn't trust. His island is full of secrets; nothing is what it appears to be. Chen will make sure that your freedom is limited while you participate; he almost certainly has something planned."

"So what do we do?" Lloyd asked. "What if something goes wrong? We need to be able to contact you somehow."

"I think I know how to fix that," another voice said from the doorway. They all turned to look.

"_Nya?_" Kai said. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been trying to rebuild the Bounty," Nya said, leaning with one hand on the doorframe. "Garmadon let me take over one of the sheds behind the Monastery, and I've been able to make decent progress."

"So, um," Jay said, hesitating, "How can you fix this?"

"While trying to reconstruct the communication system, I realized that it would be pretty easy to scale the old system down," she explained. "I figured it would be useful for saving space in the cockpit, but if I removed some of the non-essential components, I think I'd be able to make pocket-sized radios for the four of you. The signal would still be pretty strong, too."

The four of them shared a look, and Cole grinned. "Looks like we have our plan."

* * *

><p><strong>(AN):** Chapter two is finally finished! Huzzah!

Let's give you guys an idea of the scale of this project, though:

This fic takes place over the course of exactly twenty-three days. This chapter takes place mostly on Days 1 and 2.

There are somewhere along the lines of ten subplots involved in this fic. Currently, we are involved in either three or four of them, depending on how you count it.

All of these subplots (except one) are resolved on Day 23. Six or seven, depending on how you count it, start on Day 18 or later.

Yes I'm going to die before that happens. Considering how many crazy battle scenes there are going to be... ugh...

This chapter was **Welcome by Christina Aguilera**, and the next chapter will be **Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy**!

See you all two weeks from now, probably, or maybe earlier!


	3. Come Little Children

**Chapter Three: Come Little Children**

_Come little children, I'll take thee away into a land of enchantment_

_Come little children, the time's come to play, here in my garden of shadows…_

* * *

><p>The tiny radio in his pocket vibrated to signal the incoming transmission. "Looks like mine's working," Kai said.<p>

"Same here," Lloyd confirmed.

"Mine too!" Jay piped up. "Nya really did a good job on these with such short notice!"

Cole sighed. "I _still_ couldn't feel it, even after I switched with Jay."

"Eh, you'll get used to it," Jay said. "Plus, the three of us could, so we'll still be able to get the transmissions. Or if one of ours breaks, we could take yours."

"Let's see if we can talk to her," Kai continued, taking the tiny silver antenna out of his pocket and turning it on. The others followed suit, and Nya's voice instantly filled the room.

"_-sting, one, two, three, testing…_" the radios blared. "_Can you guys hear me?_"

"Yeah. They're all working," Lloyd said.

A sudden static screech made Kai flinch. "What was that?"

Nya's voice slowly came back through the noise. _"-den feedback spike. Do you guys __**all**__ have them turned on? You shouldn't – it'll make it harder to hear things on __**both**__ ends._"

Cole fumbled with the switch on his before turning it off, and Jay and Lloyd followed soon after. The volume in the room decreased significantly, leaving the group huddling around Kai's radio.

"That better?" Kai asked.

The static noise corrupting Nya's voice was significantly reduced. "_Definitely. You're coming through much better this time,_" she said.

"Looks like we're ready to go," Cole said. "We've got our bags, the radios… I think we should be okay."

"_Good luck!_" Nya said excitedly through the radio before Kai could turn it off. "_And you better get me a souvenir, Kai!_"

"No promises, sis," Kai said, grinning.

He turned the radio off, and the four Ninja departed for Ninjago City's harbor.

* * *

><p>To say the least, Clouse was <em>not pleased<em> with the state of the ship.

"_You!_" he shouted, pointing at a random soldier. "_Move those ropes!_ I don't care _where_ you put them. We're going to be there in _two minutes_, and we can't have this looking like a _mess_ for Chen's _guests!_ It would be more merciful for me to throw you _overboard_ than for Chen to find out about it!"

The soldier jumped and hurried off to fulfill his superior officer's orders. Clouse grunted angrily and wrinkled his nose in disgust. "_You'd think they would know how to hide things quite well…_" he grumbled bitterly.

He continued his circuit around the ship's decks, taking the stairs down to the lower exterior deck. Clouse moved to the bow to try to spot the dock, and had marginally more success than he had previously: either the fog surrounding the port was thicker on the upper deck, or it had cleared up slightly. He was able to spot the large group with relative ease.

"Adjust course to have the ship come in alongside the dock!" he shouted to the rest of the ship. "Start slowing her down, too! We're coming in too hot!"

The ship creaked slightly as the soldiers began to work on slowing it to let it drift into place. He spotted a few soldiers who didn't appear to be doing anything useful and called them to his side.

"Here's the _boarding plank_, you dimwits, now put this down on the dock when we get there!" he sneered. "I am _sick_ of this stupid crew."

The boat slowed down significantly and began to drift near the dock. Clouse pulled aside another soldier and told him to drop the anchor immediately.

"Be prepared to raise it as soon as soon as I tell you," he hissed. The soldier nodded respectfully and ran off without a word.

Clouse turned around to see that the soldiers in charge of the boarding plank had done a decent job of setting it correctly. He pushed aside two of them to greet the crowd.

It was a very small group that stood uncomfortably on the dock. He took a quick head count. Sixteen – only half of the number that Chen had invited. They would have to make up excuses to keep them on the island longer, and Clouse instantly decided that _that _was Chen's problem.

"Please, line up," he told the crowd. "One at a time, please. There's no rush."

After a few moments, they had ordered themselves, and he welcomed the first up the plank.

The first in the line was a – man? A woman? _Someone?_ – whose appearance was somewhat unnerving: every part of their body was completely invisible. Clouse was only able to tell where their face was because of the white hat that they were wearing. He welcomed the person aboard the ship without a second thought.

Next came a young woman dressed head-to-toe in bright orange. He vaguely recognized her from the descriptions that Chen had given him earlier, and merely gestured for her to come across.

He went through the rest of the line quite quickly. Clouse only hesitated welcoming one person, mostly because he couldn't remember them from the descriptions and they sounded strange.

"I don't recall you appearing on the list of competitors, ah, 'Pippin Ferner'," he asked, suspicious.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," 'Pippin' replied. "Speed isn't a real element, I hear that all the time, can I come on board or not?"

In the end, he welcomed the entire group without much complaint and told the idle soldiers to direct them to their rooms for the voyage.

"Lift the anchor!" he called. "Set course for Chen's Island!"

* * *

><p>Turner and Chen simply did not get along, and so Turner had made a point of avoiding Chen as much as possible over the past several decades. Fortunately, his chosen home was on the far side of the island from Chen's usual base, and due to the fact that only one curving, twisting underground tunnel connected the two lairs, Turner usually had a fair amount of time to himself. Sheer probability ensured that he hardly ever saw Chen unless if it was absolutely necessary.<p>

Sheer probability had _also_ dictated that today was the day for Chen to drop in unexpectedly. Considering that he was in the middle the very research that Chen had _ordered_ him to do, Turner wasn't exactly pleased.

"Redouble your efforts," Chen said somewhere behind him. "I want it ready as soon as possible."

Turner turned away from the small glass tank he had been examining to face Chen. Chen had retired his usual formal wear for a loose-fitting purple cloak, which Turner found very odd. "I'm going as fast as humanly possible," he said, leaning back against the table the tank was sitting on. "It's your fault that I can't go any faster."

"_Silence!_" Chen shouted. "I need him ready two days before! _Two days!_"

"He will never agree with that," Turner said. "You _know_ that."

"Whether Clouse likes it or not, he _will_ undergo your little procedure, do you understand me?" Chen hissed. "_Find_ a suitable test subject, or I will have Arcturus annihilate you with the rest of humanity!"

"Arcturus came to _me_ with the date _first_, and _you'll never live it down_," Turner growled. "Arcturus knows the future better than _you_. If _He_ wants me to do anything, He will make a test subject fall right out of the sky."

"_Fine,_" Chen said. "If you want to play that game, then so be it. If Arcturus wants you to be the sacrifice, then He will destroy this place."

"Fair enough," Turner replied. "What's the other reason you came here? You wouldn't have come for just _that_."

"I came to inspect your research," Chen said, rubbing his fingers together in the air dismissively. "You know the drill by now. I need to see if you're still worth keeping around."

"You'll be pleased. I'm very close," he said. He stepped aside and pointed to the tank on the table. "Look in here."

Chen walked up to the small table and leaned over to examine the tank while Turner explained the contents.

"They're flies," he said. "The ones in the left partition are the control; I didn't do anything to them. The ones on the right, on the other hand… well, you should be able to see what color they are."

"Purple flies are certainly unusual," Chen said, grinning. "But can you prove it to me?"

"Watch this," Turner said. He picked up the tank, and with a grunt, threw it as hard as he could at the concrete floor.

The tank shattered almost instantly, upsetting the contents. Hundreds of flies flew away, but several purplish grasshoppers and spiders ran from the wreckage, too.

"Are you satisfied?" Turner asked.

Chen looked at him with a strange expression: clearly pleased, yet also very bitter. "Very satisfied, yes."

"Then," he continued, "Am I off the list?"

Chen grinned. "No," he said. "You specified that you wouldn't unless if you were successful with a _human_ test subject. You _have_ no human test subjects."

He started to walk out, and Turner made no move to follow him. "Unless if Arcturus lets you win your bet, I do believe I'll be seeing you on that little altar in two weeks. Farewell, slug."

* * *

><p>The moon hung over the water, highly contrasted to the darkness in the cloudless sky. The stars were bright, but could not compare to the moon's reflection on the choppy water.<p>

The ship gliding silently through the water was mostly asleep except for a few of its crew that were absolutely necessary to keep it moving. However, as long as the four figures on the deck stayed near the bow, they had decided that they were safe from anyone overhearing them.

And, aside from the fact that the moon's dancing reflection was very distracting, Cole was able to keep careful watch for any guards that might interrupt them.

"We'll be landing in the morning," Kai said. The radio hissed static for a few moments before Nya's reply came from the other end.

"_Good! Have you guys seen the island yet?_"

"Lloyd thought he saw it around sunset," Jay said. "I was with him, but I couldn't see it. Maybe it was just level with the horizon or something."

"Or maybe you're just _blind_," Cole mumbled, grinning.

"Says Mister _I-Can't-Feel-This-Thing-Vibrating-In-My-Own-Hand_," Lloyd said.

Jay laughed. "Oh, you got _burned_, Cole."

"Shh," Kai said, trying to keep them quiet. Cole thought he saw him sniggering behind his fist. "Are there any last-minute things that we need to know about, Nya? Anything Garmadon or Wu told you to tell us?"

"_Not really,_" the radio said. "_Garmadon wanted me to tell you that Chen is a bit… eccentric? And that you should really be ready for anything when you get there. Wu said that you guys should make sure to only use the radios if absolutely necessary, and he has a point. The batteries will probably last about a day – just make sure not to leave them turned on all night or something._"

"So we only use them if we absolutely have to," Cole said. "Sounds reasonable."

"_Yeah,_" Nya replied. "_Radio back if you find Zane or if something really bad happens. As soon as you're ready, we'll leave to pick you guys up – if I can get the rocket boosters fixed in time, it'll probably only take a day to get there._"

"Try talking to Cyrus about fixing the rocket boosters," Jay suggested. "He'd be able to fix them easily, I think."

"_I know, I'm going to,_" Nya said. "_I barely have the hull finished at this point – I don't have time to worry about them yet._"

"Any last-minute advice?" Lloyd asked.

"_Um, don't get caught, and have fun?_"

"Sounds good to me," Kai said. "Night, sis."

"_Goodnight!_" she said. The static noise coming from the radio was instantly reduced.

"Looks like all that's left is to find Zane, then," Cole said.

Kai nodded. "I think so."

"Well, goodnight!" Jay said. "See you all in the morning."

They shut off the radio and went to bed.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN):** If you look closely, you can see the _exact moment_ I gave up.

Namely, Pippin Ferner, because god damn it. I'm sorry, I had to put that in for... lots of reasons.

A lot of stuff has happened in these past two weeks, though! So much, that I just have to hope that I'm not forgetting half of it.

**First thing:** As you can probably tell, this chapter's title is not "Young Volcanoes". Instead, it is **Come Little Children from Hocus Pocus**. I changed it at the last minute - mostly because I decided that it was a really bad transition to go from trippy circus music to pop/rock. "Young Volcanoes" will be used later, however - sometime in the third act.

So now, instead of a pop/rock mix, we now get more trippy circus music, and the next chapter starts the transition out of it with **The Entertainer by Billy Joel**. One of my favorite songs, to be honest. First verse fits the Tournament perfectly.

**Next item on the list:** There is now a Youtube playlist for the music featured in this fic! Find it on YouTube here (remove the spaces): youtube playlist ? list = PL9bXoy-yjlxwPh3CPxRLQbDo95mxw49j8

**Finally:** You have no idea how much I hate this chapter. And the next chapter, for that matter. Thankfully, those two chapters are really all that's left of this awkward canon-rehashing business before we start moving in completely original (and pitch dark) directions. Chapter Five will start this transition; Chapter Seven will finish it when there's basically no remaining trace of canon (especially at the end... dear god...).

Chapter Eight will mark the start of Act Two, and a definite turning point for many characters. It is at this point where the Tournament stops being fun and games and starts being a challenge of life or death. It is at this point where all decisions have consequences and all consequences breed consequences. It is at this point where the fic starts setting itself up for the absolute hell that is **Day 23**, aka: the entire third act.

No, I'm not kidding it literally is the entire third act.

I will see you all in two weeks! Enjoy Episode 37, which should be leaking online tomorrow! :D


	4. The Entertainer

**Chapter Four: The Entertainer**

_Today I am your champion; I may have won your hearts, but I know the game,_

_You'll forget my name. I won't be here in another year if I don't stay on the charts._

* * *

><p>The island was very large, but that could have been an illusion caused by the fact that it was very mountainous. It rose up from the sea like a towering, blunted spire, and almost every inch of it was covered in green.<p>

Every single contestant was standing on the deck now, though nobody was talking. All of them were watching the island grow closer with a sense of both awe and apprehension.

Jay just wanted to be there already.

He'd tried lots of things to distract himself: first he counted to one hundred, and then two hundred, but he eventually gave up counting somewhere before four hundred and started drumming his fingers on the ship's railings. Once he was no longer satisfied with that, he walked over and leaned against the wall to drum his fingers on the wood behind his back.

"Nervous?"

"Yeah," Jay sighed. He turned his back to the island to look at Cole. "Just... I don't know. Forget I said anything."

"Tell me," Cole said. "We can't fix it if you don't tell us what's wrong."

Jay rocked back on his heels and pushed away from the wall. The momentum carried him over to the boat's railing where he stood and gazed out at sea away from the island.

Cole came up next to him a few seconds later. "Come on, what is it?"

"It's just…" Jay said, trying to find the right word. He gave up and breathed out instead. "What if something _bad_ happens?"

"We'd call Nya and wait for her to pick us up," Cole answered without hesitation. "Did you forget already? I'm not very _shocked_."

"You stop that! The lightning puns are _my_ thing!"

Cole's grin only became wider. Jay slapped his arm in retaliation.

"But, seriously though," Jay said. He felt nervous energy building in his fingers again, and tried to dispel it by tapping the railing. "What if something… _really_ bad happens? I mean, we've always gone on our little 'adventures' with at least a general idea of the risks we're taking, but here…" he paused, scrambling for words again, "…We're completely in the dark, about everything. We barely know who Chen is, we know nothing about his island, we know nothing about any of these other competitors, we know nothing about the challenges and what happens if we lose them –"

"Jay."

He almost jumped when Cole said his name – he hadn't expected it. He turned to face Cole again. "What?"

"You're right," Cole said. "We don't know a lot of stuff. About this whole tournament – something's off," he continued. He reached out and grabbed Jay's hand where it was still nervously tapping on the railing. "But we've known less! Lloyd released the Serpentine, and then they overthrew him and tried to release the Great Devourer… and, heck, the Overlord blind-sided us _both_ times he decided to pick a fight!"

"But, like, what if –"

"'What if" nothing," Cole said forcefully. "You've just got to trust me. _Nothing_ is going to happen, and if anything does, we'll just call Nya. Okay?"

Jay took a deep breath. "…Okay."

"Good," Cole said, smiling. "Let's find Kai and Lloyd – it looks like we're about ready to land."

* * *

><p>Everything was finally ready, and Chen was very satisfied.<p>

He called two servants to his sides to prepare for his grand entrance. Clouse would announce him from the other side of the door, in the Great Entrance Hall, and then he would burst through the door and explain the little tournament.

Or… most of it, anyway. Most of the purpose, most of the rules, most of the consequences. Considering that it was disrespectful to rig a bet with Arcturus, Turner had forced Chen's hand and left him unable to explain some of the fun things.

Of course, if he told them the true purpose, they would all rebel like wasps fleeing a destroyed nest and attack him instead of each other. He had already decided that he wouldn't tell them what they were competing for.

Voices started in the other room: whispering, mostly, though Clouse's voice began to filter on top of the background noise soon enough. Chen adjusted his headdress slightly in preparation for his opening act.

"May I introduce the very Wise and Powerful –"

Chen raised his right foot and, turning on his other leg, side-kicked the double doors open with a sharp jab. He spun his grounded heel back toward the doorway and walked in slowly while the doors bounced off the wall and slowly closed behind him.

The entire room went deathly quiet instantly to the point that the two servants taking their positions – one in front of the door he'd come from, and one in front of the main entrance – were almost ruining the atmosphere with their quiet footsteps.

Chen grinned widely at the crowd. "Welcome, welcome, one and all, to my Tournament of Elements!" he announced to begin his speech, opening his arms to recognize the group as a whole. "It seems that not all of my invitations found their targets, but we can adjust the schedule to accommodate fewer events."

He dismissed Clouse with a small wave of his fingertips: they would talk later, but Chen was not angry. Not wanting to let down the dramatic tension, he continued with the next section of his little monologue.

"I have designed this tournament to test every competitor equally: to judge you based not only on your powers, but on your wits," Chen said, slowly walking toward the circle of competitors. "One step in the wrong direction could be fatal. One use of your powers at the wrong instant could turn a battle against you. One mistaken strategy could leave you with nothing."

He was standing behind one end of the circle now; he began to circle around the room just behind their backs, staring intensely at anyone who dared to meet his eyes. Very few of them turned and looked at him.

"So I've also set some simple rules," he said as he paced around behind them. "One: Inside the challenges themselves, there are no rules. However: Any non-accidental death of any competitor will be investigated, and the competitor that caused it will be punished severely."

Chen paused for a moment before continuing. "Two: Outside of the competitions, competitors are not allowed within the arenas. Competitors are _never_ allowed inside restricted areas unless I authorize it." He had almost reached the end of the circle. "Three: Any competitor caught within a restricted area at any time other than during a competition will be punished severely."

He passed the last competitor and began pacing back toward the center. "Four: Any competitor who is suspected of being within a restricted area at any point in time will be questioned, and if found ambiguously guilty, will be punished severely."

Finally, he reached the center of the room. He stopped and spread his arms again to acknowledge all of them, and grinned. "Five: Breakfast is not served in the cafeteria after eleven, and anyone found asking for it will be punished severely."

The group laughed, and Chen's grin only grew _wider_. The last rule was an invitation for a laugh, to not take him seriously, to lessen the meaning of 'punished severely' and replace it with a wonderful feeling, one that he liked to call _what-could-possibly-go-wrong?_

He clapped twice to summon more of his servants. They filed in in a clean line and took their places behind each of the competitors. "My servants will lead you to your rooms," Chen announced. "But before you leave, I will provide one last closing remark."

He held their gazes on a single fingertip that he held out in front of him. "I suggest that we turn to ancient wisdom to guide us. An ancient Serpentine Tribe, the Anacondrai, once had a motto: only one can remain. So it is in this Tournament: out of all of you, only one will last until the final round. Only one gets the prize and it cannot be shared. Alliances can only help you so much for so long – in the end, everyone will be the same."

He dismissed them with a wave of his hand and returned through the double doors to find Clouse.

And it wasn't very hard – Clouse was right inside the entrance.

"There you are," Chen said. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to look for you."

"I understood your little signal," Clouse answered dismissively. "You didn't take very long, anyway."

"Fair enough," Chen said. He frowned. "How many of them are there? I didn't want to waste time counting them."

"Sixteen, Master," Clouse said. "The brackets won't quite be even, but you will still be able to use the setup you devised."

"Good, good," Chen replied. "Have you determined how many extra days we'll have to add to accommodate the scheduling?"

"I've already fixed the schedule."

Chen gave Clouse a devilish grin.

"_Excellent._"

* * *

><p>The first two days in Chen's 'palace' of sorts passed quickly and easily. The four of them had used the time to explore, see each other's rooms, and, in general, try to familiarize themselves with the place, with varying degrees of success.<p>

It was on the morning of the third day when an unexpected announcement came over the loudspeaker.

"_Everyone, please assemble in the entrance hall,_" Chen's voice said, crackling with static. "_The Tournament is about to begin!_"

"_Jeez,_ it's about time," Jay said, and Cole couldn't help but agree. "It's been boring just waiting like this."

The four of them shuffled off to where Chen had talked to them on the first day. This time, Chen was waiting for them, standing next to an elaborate golden statue.

"Welcome, welcome," Chen said, smiling as they entered with the other contestants. "Today, the Tournament will finally begin!"

Some of the other contestants started clapping. Cole decided to play along, and nudged Lloyd when he saw that he wasn't.

After the spontaneous applause died, Chen acknowledged the strange statue. "_This_ is the first challenge," he explained. "Around this complex and the courtyards outside, I have hidden fifteen blades that look like this one."

Chen grabbed something behind the statue, and Cole struggled to see it until Chen held it up.

It was a decorative blade. The handle was a simple golden cylinder, but the blade looked like it had been delicately hand-carved with some sort of scene. He wasn't able to make out the image before Chen put the blade back where he had stored it.

"There are only fifteen of these Jade Blades," Chen announced. "There are sixteen competitors. Whoever returns here without a Jade Blade will be eliminated from the Tournament."

"Better find them fast, then," Kai mumbled next to Cole.

"On your marks," Chen began.

"Find one as fast as possible and run right back here," Cole said quietly. "We can't be eliminated in the first round."

"Get set…"

"Found one," Lloyd whispered, grinning.

"GO!" Chen shouted.

In an instant, the room was a sea of running, jumping bodies. Lloyd darted off in the direction of the Jade Blade he thought he saw; Jay and Kai ran to search other areas.

Cole, on the other hand, followed the crowd.

Most of them were heading up either set of stairs; he took the slightly-emptier ones and barreled up the steps like a high-speed train. A group of them were already fighting over one hidden in a pot on the landing, so he continued running up the stairs.

His room was on this floor, but he didn't really care at the moment. Cole stopped at the top of the stairs and scanned the area, looking for the distinctive green color.

And then he saw one sitting under a table, leaning against one of its legs. He started running to the table when someone jumped on him from behind and he fell on his face.

When he looked up, Cole saw his attacker: a strange-looking man with a strange-looking black-and-white hairstyle. He grabbed the man's ankle and yanked on it, pulling him down for revenge.

While the man struggled to get up, he spotted another Jade Blade across the room hiding inside a decorative plant.

"Look, there's no one else _here!_" the strange man suddenly spat. "You get that one, I'll get this one, and we _both_ get to move on!"

Cole let go of the man's ankle in shock, and he scrambled to the table to grab the Jade Blade. Cole got up and ran to collect the other one he saw from the potted plant, but he had no idea how the man could have seen it from where he was.

"Master of Mind," the strange man said again. Cole jumped and found him standing at the top of the stairs. "And if that's actually the Tournament's prize, then I'm not sure if I'm interested anymore – I might just drop out of this silly Tournament if it's really your friend we're fighting over. But I suppose I'll have to find that out from Chen. See you downstairs."

Cole smuggled his Jade Blade back down the stairs to where Chen was waiting. He handed his blade to Chen, who placed it in one of the holes on the statue – the handle fit perfectly inside. He turned around and found Jay and Lloyd.

"Good, you're back," Jay said. "Where's Kai, though? He doesn't have much time…"

"Probably about to do something stupid," Lloyd said smugly.

Cole facepalmed.

* * *

><p>The drums pounded with a frenzied rhythm and filled the tiled courtyard with echoes.<p>

Kai thought that the noise was going to be _extremely_ annoying.

Something brushed the back of his leg, and he almost jumped. He turned to look – it was only a plant, twisting up out of the cracks in the tile. A painful itch began to spread through his leg where the leaves had brushed it. More vines began spiraling out of the ground and sprouting along the walls of the courtyard. His first thought was that it was the strange nature elementalist who was attacking him, but he wasn't sure.

Chen's dark voice suddenly hissed through a loudspeaker. "_A challenger approaches the Master of Fire!_"

The drums immediately stopped, replaced by a high whistling. Kai glanced up and barely had time to jump back as an emerald-green blade embedded itself into the space between the cracks at his feet.

He sensed that someone was watching him, and heard the competitor rasping for breath somewhere behind him. Slowly, he drew fiery energy and held it ready to ignite under his palms.

He turned around suddenly, expecting to see an elderly man with a thick beard and a bamboo staff. Instead, he saw a woman dressed entirely in a sickly shade of yellowish-green, with jade lipstick and bright green hair. She was holding a glass vial of something glowing a vivid emerald green.

Was it… Venomari venom? Kai was _not_ messing with that stuff again.

The green woman threw the vial over his head. The glass shattered and let the liquid inside run down the wall, which began to erode the stone and release noxious fumes. Pulling his hood over his nose and mouth, Kai lunged forwards, shooting tiny flames out of his fingertips. The woman lunged backwards, stinging plants intertwining in front of her to create a shield. The plants barely bothered him as he burned through the barrier, jumping through to the other side.

The green woman had vanished. Slowly, he circled around. A faint swish of fabric out of the corner of his eye revealed his opponent was leaping towards him, but he turned too slowly to evade her. As her long fingers latched onto his shoulder, he felt his skin begin to burn again. As her other hand swung up towards his throat, Kai twisted backwards, allowing the crimson flames to blaze outwards around him.

Screaming, the poison elementalist let go of his shoulder. Through the brilliant flames, Kai could see her cradling her scorched hands. The poison-glow in her eyes was fading, and she looked at him in fear.

She was afraid.

Enemies weren't supposed to look afraid like this. They were supposed to be snarling warriors of stone, faces with scales and sunken eyes, mindless drones wearing black. Easy to hurt. Easy to burn.

Easy to kill.

He let the fire around him die, and his feet alighted back on the now significantly warmer tiles. The vine-like plants were dead – some were burned, and others were simply withering away. He couldn't move for a moment, but then he stepped over to the blade and wrapped his hand around the handle.

The blade was polished, silky smooth, and very cold. Kai pulled backwards on it, ripping it out of the ground. The drums were sounding again, beating a slow, steady time. Underneath the drums, Kai heard the green woman's rasping breaths getting louder behind him.

He twisted around quickly and managed to knock the woman away, sending her sprawling across the courtyard. Baring teeth that were almost fangs, she whipped another vial of acid at him. Lunging into the throw, Kai brought up the blade and blocked the vial, which exploded violently in a blast of sizzling green steam.

He had to make her stay down if he was ever going to get back through the door with the blade. There were two more bottles of poison that did _something bad_ strapped to the woman's belt, and some of the plants were beginning to grow back. Racing across the courtyard, Kai scaled the wall and grabbed one of the drummers, throwing the tattooed man towards the cliffs below.

"_Time's almost up, Master of Fire,_" the loudspeaker boomed. One more vial shattered on the rooftop, forming a dark cloud that enveloped one of the drummers. Screaming, the man lunged backwards as his skin boiled. Grabbing the abandoned drum, Kai jumped from the roof and smashed the metal side on the green woman's head. She slumped to the ground, unconscious, and Kai picked up the blade and ran to the door.

As soon as he stepped inside, Chen's voice boomed, "The Master of Toxins has been eliminated! The challenge is over!"

The other competitors started to leave the room. Jay, Lloyd and Cole found Kai and started to head upstairs.

"This doesn't feel right," was the only thing Kai said.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN):** Hello hello hello again my wonderful readers! :D

This chapter is really really super long, as you can probably tell. It's over 1000 words longer than the minimum chapter length I've set for myself (2000 words, to make sure that you guys have stuff that'll take longer than a few minutes to read :D).

This chapter's music is **The Entertainer by Billy Joel**, and the next chapter will be **I'll Hold My Breath by Ellie Goulding**. I actually know all of the songs that I'm using for the first eight chapters, but you'll just have to wait and see...

...or you could hop on over to my writing Tumblr and find:

**1. The full list of chapter songs that I know I'm going to use**, in an on-site SCM Player;

**2. Various news items, writing-process posts, statistics, and other fun things;**

**3. Spoilers for future chapters** (though you have to look for them... ;D); and

**4. New chapters published whenever I finish them** (FFN will continue to update every other Friday; I'm just trying to set up a little 'backlog' on Tumblr for my own peace of mind)

Speaking of my writing Tumblr (which you can find a link to on my profile), a good friend of mine, **froststrix**, wrote the vast majority of Kai's POV in this chapter (like, everything except the last three sentences XD), and I edited it to suit my purposes here. You can read the original on my writing Tumblr!

Also, as you probably realized, **the Bruiseshipping teases are invading.** A little bit of that tension is going to remain for the rest of the fic, and it's going to get especially intense near the end of Chapter Seven and remain potent through Act 2. Chapter Seven is going to introduce Plasmashipping and possibly Greenflame teases (come to think of it, Greenflame teases would give Lloyd a reason to do something other than nothing - lolwow).

Neuro bby is a very precious child but unfortunately I don't have very much room in this story for the contestants D:

I'll see you all in two weeks! The next chapter is going to be _especially_ fun... :)


	5. I'll Hold My Breath

**Chapter Five: I'll Hold My Breath**

_Until you see me in your dreams, we'll stay awake beneath the trees_

_We'll watch the buildings turn to dust, a sky of diamonds just for us_

* * *

><p>"The next challenge begins tomorrow, but I'm going to explain it tonight," Chen said, grinning.<p>

The sun outside had already set – through the windows near the front entrance, Chen could see the stars brightening up as the sun's last rays died to the blackness of space. He wasn't giving his servants very much time, but they would make do with what he gave them.

"Tomorrow, your goal is to come here," he said. "The last person to arrive in the entrance hall will be eliminated from the Tournament."

"So, wait," one of the contestants – the Master of Lightning, Chen recalled – asked. "We just have to _walk downstairs_ to win?"

Chen ignored the question. "Wake up early tomorrow, and make sure to cling tightly to your pillows," he said. "Good night."

He dismissed them and left the room through the double doors behind him. He walked down the straight hallway until he hit the dead end and sensed a presence behind him.

"Clouse," Chen said. He turned around and saw his favorite servant following him. "Tomorrow's challenge is going to be quite fun. I think you'll enjoy it."

"Is that so," Clouse said flatly.

"Yes, yes," Chen answered. "I think I'll let you watch it, and at least the first half of Round One. After that point I think you would be able to be out of commission for a few days – how does that sound?"

Clouse frowned angrily. "_Not_ until he has a test subject. I am not submitting my _life_ to him unguarded."

"A wise choice," Chen told him. "But you're beginning to _frustrate_ me, Clouse. And you can take Turner as an example – it's a _terrible_ idea to not give me what I want. All I want is for you to get that little 'operation' out of the way as soon as possible – is that too hard to understand?"

"I will continue to refuse," Clouse growled.

"Fine," Chen said. "You're still not allowed into the Catacombs until you change."

Chen concentrated on his right hand and saw the bones shift through the surface of his glove. Black claw-tips ripped through the fabric as Clouse watched.

Chen raised the now mutated hand to show to Clouse. "It looks worse than it feels, if you're wondering. It just feels… strange."

Using the tips of his claws, he reached for the memorized spot and found the small disc set into the wall. Only the very tips of his claws were able to reach inside of the crack. He twisted the disc and released his grip, only for the false wall to slide back like a screen, revealing the dark, rocky tunnel behind it.

"Good night," Chen said, smiling with teeth that were a bit too pointy.

Chen stumbled awkwardly through the slowly closing gap into the rocky tunnel, gazing back at Clouse from the darkness with glowing eyes and dangerously sharp teeth.

The gap closed, and he shed the rest of his disguise.

* * *

><p>He opened his eyes slowly, taking in one detail at a time: the soft, yellowish early-morning light; the vibrant green plants with delicate, nearly translucent leaves; the tiny blue-purple flowers that smelled like sunshine; the gentle breeze that made them all wave like a sea of life.<p>

He was almost certain that he was dreaming, and figured that he would fall asleep again and fade into some other illusion, but though he tried to, the stick poking him in the back was just too uncomfortable –

And then the reality of his situation caught up to him, and Cole swore under his breath.

He stood up quickly and inspected the surrounding area. Bushes and trees, so many trees, so much _green_. It was bringing back memories of when he had been wandering Ninjago on his own for however-many-years, memories of independence and freedom and the joys of the open road…

Cole remembered Chen's words with a sudden degree of clarity, and realized why this challenge would be so difficult to win: in order to get to the entrance hall, he had to know how to _find_ it.

He looked back at where he had been lying, and decided that he would wonder how Chen had transported him out into the wilderness without waking him up _later_. Carved into the tree behind his head was a symbol that looked like an arrow. Considering that he had no idea where Chen's palace was, Cole decided to go in the direction the arrow pointed to try to find it.

He began struggling through the bushes in the direction the arrow had shown him. Thorns tore at his clothes and branches tangled his hair as his bare feet stepped on vibrant grasses and tiny bugs.

After about a half hour of walking, he finally found a green clearing filled with tall grass. A canyon on one side of it appeared to split the clearing in half, as a similar grassy area appeared on the other side of it. The bottom of the canyon appeared dry, but he heard a tiny trickle of water echoing up suggesting a small stream at the very bottom.

Using his powers, he summoned a condensed mass of rock to reach over the canyon. He stepped into the middle of the canyon and looked up and down its length. He didn't find Chen's palace, but one end of the canyon led to the sea.

He walked off the bridge and prepared to smash it so that no other contestants could use it, but then he heard a voice.

"Cole!"

He turned around quickly. Lloyd had called out to him – Jay was standing next to him, smiling. Cole smashed the bridge and then walked over to them.

"We've been looking for you," Jay said as soon as Cole came closer. "I saw a few of the other guys earlier, but there was no sign of you or Kai _anywhere_."

"We still haven't found Kai," Lloyd continued. "But our first priority is to find Chen's palace. Do you have any idea where it is?"

"The sea's this way," Cole said, pointing towards one end of the canyon. "If we walk along the beach we'll be able to find it, and because there won't be all these plants, we'll probably be able to get there faster."

"Good plan," Lloyd said. "Let's get going!"

* * *

><p>Kai wasn't exactly sure where he was going anymore, but he figured it didn't matter. As long as he made it back to Chen's palace before some other sorry contestant did, he was fine.<p>

So far, he'd only seen one other contestant: a girl with purple hair who had almost _melted_ into the scenery before he could get a better look at her. There had been no sign of Cole, Jay or Lloyd anywhere; he was tempted to turn on his radio to try to find them, but he didn't want to trust it, considering that he had no idea where any of the _other_ contestants were, either. He decided to try to get to Chen's palace before he worried about wherever the others were.

A split-second later, his foot found unstable ground and he was suddenly tumbling through a hole that hadn't been there a moment before. A shower of dirt and small rocks pelted him after he landed head first on a cobblestone floor.

Kai groaned dramatically and stood up to brush himself off. He had landed in a dark tunnel stretching in both directions. The sloping, arch-like walls were also made of round, gray cobblestones. The center of the ceiling had collapsed; he had probably stepped on a weak section and the additional weight had caused it to cave in.

The air in the tunnel tasted stale, but he could sense a small breeze coming from one end of the tunnel. He decided to follow it, wondering if it was something important.

When he began hearing voices, he stopped in his tracks and listened. He couldn't make out more than snatches of conversation. Kai crept closer and strained his ears.

"…probably… more noise, anyway…"

"…guess… doesn't matter… we should still… to Chen after our shift finishes."

He stopped abruptly when he heard Chen's name. He couldn't see the speakers in the near-complete darkness in the tunnel, but something was strange –

"…Do you smell something?"

Kai stood perfectly still.

"Dirt, as always… and something… else…"

He heard more than saw something whip through the air in front of him, but as soon as he sensed it he ran away from the conversation as fast as he possibly could.

"_After it!_ No outsiders may enter the Den!" one of the voices screamed. A tide of pursuers had gathered behind him, throwing things at him and trying to make him trip. He ran for the light of the hole he'd fallen through and sprang out of it like a raging demon. He heard his pursuers cry out in frustration at how bright the light was, but he ran until he tripped on some sort of vine and then rolled under a bush to hide.

He waited several minutes, and when nobody came after him, he crawled out from underneath the dense foliage of the bush and started to walk back towards the tunnel's entrance.

Instead of jumping down inside again, he simply looked which direction the tunnel went. Considering it was a relatively straight tunnel, Kai figured that he could at least find out where one end wound up above ground. This time he followed the other end of the tunnel to see where it led.

After half an hour of stumbling through the bushes, he found a wall. Kai climbed a nearby tree to look up over it.

It was Chen's palace. He was at almost the exact center of the back side of the palace. He couldn't see the open gate on the other side from here, but he'd made it.

Kai jumped down from the tree and jogged along the wall, trailing his fingers on the lines of stacked stone. He didn't see anyone else until he peered through the front gate and saw Lloyd, Jay and Cole standing in the doorway. He ran inside the entrance hall and a gong sounded as he stepped over the threshold. The door shut behind him with a bang, and he heard a sharp crash as the iron gate snapped shut outside.

"The challenge is over!" Chen shouted from somewhere – it took Kai a moment to find him standing near the rear doors. "In two days' time, the competitive Tournament shall begin!"

Chen disappeared through the door without another word. The other remaining contestants started to filter out of the room one by one. Eventually, the four of them were alone in the entrance hall.

Lloyd frowned. "That was close, Kai."

"What were you doing out there, anyway?" Cole asked.

Kai glanced around the room quickly to make sure they were alone. "I found something," he said quietly. "Come to my room tonight, we'll talk more there."

The other three nodded, and they all left the entrance hall.

* * *

><p>"So, wait," Jay asked. "Some strange tunnel caved in underneath you… and you thought it was a good idea to follow <em>voices?<em>"

"That's not the point, Jay," Kai said.

"Dude, were you even _listening_ on the first day?" Jay pressed. "Chen rattled off all sorts of stuff about 'restricted areas'. If where you were wasn't a 'restricted area', I don't know what is."

"Do you think Zane's going to be in an _un_restricted area?"

The question caught Jay off guard, and apparently Lloyd as well. All of them turned to look at Cole.

"We need to take risks," Cole warned. "We've _always_ had to take risks. Usually, the chances aren't good, either," he continued. "When we fought the Great Devourer, Zane could have told us exactly how small of a chance we had of surviving, but we _did_. That's what's important."

Cole turned towards Jay. "I don't know why this time is any different for you, but I know that it's bothering you. But if Kai didn't take that chance with the tunnel, we'd be no better off than we were yesterday. We _almost_ know where he is now – we just need to find him."

"I'll admit it," Jay said, sighing. "Something's off about this tournament. It's too… convenient."

Silence invaded the room. Cole, Kai and Lloyd stared at him with looks that ranged from confusion to suspicion.

"But – but really!" Jay continued. "Half the world saw Zane _explode_ three or four months ago. Then we get an invitation to go to a 'prestigious tournament' that's being held for the _first time _by a guy who's been stuck on this island for who-even-knows how many years, and the prize is supposedly Zane. What if it's all a ploy – what if it's some kind of sick joke? What if he had us come here and now he's going to kill us all off one by one –!"

"Jay, _calm down,_" Kai said. "Getting yourself worked up like this isn't going to help. We have a back-up plan: if we need to go home, we'll call Nya, and we'll leave right away."

Jay sat quietly while the others discussed how best to explore the tunnel. The bad feeling in the pit of his stomach grew.

It ate him alive, and he didn't stop it.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN):** Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! I'm one day early, but oh well. :D

Also: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE IN LIKE FIVE DAYS OR SOMETHING~ Get me candy pls.

This chapter kinda got the short stick in terms of quality, but the next chapter's going to be of even more horrendous quality. Can't I just skip to posting Act Two already? Act Two is more fun, and higher quality, and longer chapters, and better, and more plot stuff. Not horrendous battle scenes, _heck no._

This chapter's song is **I'll Hold My Breath by Ellie Goulding**. The title's a pun because it has trees in the song. Next chapter will be **Mr. Brightside by The Killers**.

Also _every single last thing_ in this chapter is foreshadowing. Otherwise, the point of this chapter is mostly just to eliminate one more competitor. So, yeah.

See you in two weeks! :D

_I'm not sure how else to get into contact with that sweet anon who reviewed on monday or tuesday so hi baby thank u very much :D_


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